“And He is the One who restrained their hands from you and your hands from them in the heart of Mecca, after He had given you victory over them. And Allah is All-Seeing of what you do.” (24)

His words, exalted is He: “And another which you were unable to attain” mean that Allah promised you the conquest of another land which you had been unable to attain. “Allah has encompassed it”—that is, until He opens it for you, as though He had reserved it for you and withheld it from others until you should take it. Ibn Abbas said: “Allah knew that He would open it for you.”

They differed concerning it. Ibn Abbas, al-Hasan, and Muqatil said: “It refers to Persia and Rome.” The Arabs had not been able to fight Persia and Rome; rather, they had been subject to them, until through Islam they became capable of overcoming them.

Al-Dahhak and Ibn Zayd said: “It refers to Khaybar. Allah promised it to His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, before he had taken it, while they did not expect it.”

Qatadah said: “It refers to Mecca.” Ikrimah said: “Hunayn.” Mujahid said: “That which they have not conquered until this day.”

“And Allah is over all things competent.”

“And if those who disbelieved had fought you”—meaning Asad, Ghatafan, and the people of Khaybar—“they would have turned their backs in flight”; that is, they would have been defeated (1). “Then they would have found neither protector nor helper.”

“This is the established way of Allah which has occurred before”—that is, Allah’s way of granting victory to His allies and subduing His enemies—“and you will never find any change in the way of Allah.”

His words, exalted is He: “And He is the One who restrained their hands from you and your hands from them in the heart of Mecca, after He had given you victory over them. And Allah is All-Seeing of what you do.” Abu Amr recited it with the third-person verb, while the others recited it with the second-person verb. They differed concerning who these people were: